Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Latest Obamacare Glitch: Disappearing enrollment reports

. . . “The system will not work perfectly on Dec. 1, but
it will operate much better than it did in October,” Julie Bataille, a
spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the
federal agency in charge of HealthCare.gov, told reporters on Monday.
Even if it does work better for consumers, there are still problems —
particularly the scrambled reports insurers are getting about people
who have signed up for coverage through HealthCare.gov. Insurers say
they are getting duplicate records and reports that misstate family
relationships, such as listing a child as a spouse.In some cases, enrollment reports are disappearing. With
these “orphan records,” insurers have no way of knowing whether a person
is signed up for coverage, unless a new customer happens to call the
company with questions.
“The biggest concern is that there are going to be people showing up
to get their care,” said one person close to the insurance industry, who
spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues. “Then
[the doctors or hospitals] call us and we have no record, and then the
consumer is left frustrated and worried and scared.”Until such errors stop, “you can’t open the floodgates” to large numbers of Americans using the Web site to sign up for coverage